Anastasia. Ana. Howard made a silent note to remember that name and carve it into the mausoleum that belonged with every person that Howard had ever met.

"That's a good name. You carry it well. Mine is Howard Slayte. Archaeologist. Historian. Professor. I live here in Rustboro, though work has been pretty doom and gloom because of the loss of Petalburg." Partially because of him. Team Rocket had taken the city because he had marched on it with giants of ice and stone.

Regirock and Regice had leveled the city. That was his weight to bear. He realized that he was staring off into infinity as Ana rattled off the price. He blinked once, then twice, then thrice.

"Three hundred?" The admin scratched his chin in thought, musing on the quality of the painting. It was of a high quality, but the admin was specialized in grading historical pieces. For recreational ones, he was slightly at a loss. "Hmmm..."

Damn, this was hard.

"Alright, there goes my rent..." Howard sighed and took a deep breath and peered into his wallet, before remembering that it was empty. He had spent a modest sum of thirty thousand dollars on a statue recently, and his bank account was running on empty. "You take checks?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out an Aerodactyl checkbook, complete with an Aerodactyl pen.

---

Anastasia Harmon

A line had been crossed. Howard could feel it in the air as blood flickered between a bright red and an even brighter magenta. Regardless of the status of his blood or his body, Howard Slayte was human. Whether he was a brain in a jar, synapses firing in a sea of pure thought, or a being infused with more divinity than most...

...he was human, because he had a human soul and a human will and a human dream.

Things that people like ███ could only steal. Things that beasts like Chien-pao or Chi-yu or Wo-chien could only destroy. He wondered if, like Elisabeth and Penelope, Jayden had fallen into the abyss where light would not reach. Ice as dark as pitch made him feel as such, and yet...

Jayden Cross had always desired a purpose.

"I do not speak of Rocket, I speak of me. If I dissent, it is because I think that we have erred. That is how we improve. We are not the League with their echo chambers and backend politics." He hardly believed it as he said it. It felt like a bad joke.

He felt the knife being unsheathed. The dagger hidden in sultry tones.

"Those things... they will ruin us."

---

jayden cross

"I believe in leaving the world better than I left it. The dead don't rest easy, so why should I?"

He had razed Petalburg to the ground. Nothing existed but ash and bone and cooked meat. That was his legacy. When he died, Rocket would remember his marred victory and the city he had seized. The League would remember that he had destroyed the city, that lives had been crushed under hands crudely carved from stone.

This body was a mockery. His eye twitched in rage as Jayden found a vein. Lada and Hesus's eyes bore into his soul, as if attempting to find the tattered vestiges of his original form underneath. Even his scent was distant.

"Walsh and Monroe both demanded I capture Regirock. They needed me to do so. So I did, and Elisabeth got in the way. She had to go. My position is implacable, yet I suspect that I am being set up." He gasped as the needle kissed his blood, delving into toxic blood saturated with Dynergy. "And then you come in and mention Kanto."

Howard's frown tightened, his eye analyzing Jayden's face for any hint of emotion or indication of thought. There had to be something there, in that unknowable mosiac.

"And what of Hoenn's word, hm? What of mine?"

---

jayden cross

For the first time in millennia, three royals sit in court together. Rock, ice, and thunder hold sway over a large section of the land. In the bowels of the world, steel slumbers. On the outskirts of reality, the progenitor of dragons sat forgotten.

It was a poetic thought, if not for the fact that Howard wasn't struggling with a power box to open a set of blast doors that led into the depths of New Mauville.

"There's this Megalopolan General from the Three Days War in our custody. He tried to destroy Mauville a few years back with a Dynamaxed Xurkitree. You'd love him. He's the reason Regieleki got sent to the Ultra Plant. The Megalopolans couldn't beat it, so they just sent it away."

It was rare for Howard to be genuinely mad. Yet as he spoke to June about his experience with Jules, the admin's tone grew clipped. He hated when history was wronged, and he also hated fuse boxes.

"There should be a ruin under New Mauville, if we can find it. Since you owe me 20,000 PD and have Regieleki, you're with me."

He kicked the fuse box in frustration. The door creaked slightly, before stopping. The admin's eye twitched.

---

june sleigh

"Dissent is productive. It is healthy, when channeled properly and used in manners that will actually result in change. What did Elisabeth do but sit in a corner and scheme?"

Her memory cannot harm him. Not anymore. His tongue is free to wag, and thus wag it does. If Theo decided to reprimand him now, he would simply shrug and bear it. They were alone. Even an insult could be turned into a lesson when not uttered in public.

"But, as the most successful wars have taught us, a constant change in command is... unwise. You and Underboss Quinn have been with us since Kanto. You are warriors." His eye fell upon the tomb with a harsh gaze. "She was not. If she were alive, she would undermine you both."

His eye flicked to Theo.

"You must block the promotion of any prospective underbosses until this war is over."

---

THEO BECKETT

"No. I'm more concerned about the existence of Power Spots as a whole. We overuse them, and they spring up often. Petalburg has proven that Dynamax is a disaster, as I warned my fellow admins months ago."

His words were surprisingly bitter. Fern had bleated of their need to indulge in newer weapons, and their need had killed thousands of people. Not that the admin cared, most likely.

"But when have those less focused on academia ever listened to the warnings of the enlightened? If my body shuts down from a Power Spot, then my life's end will come whether I sit in my office or work out in the field. We cannot stop their tide."

His feet crunched against Tera Crystals as pink mist licked at their heels. The noxious smoke of nicotine and tobacco swirled with its more mystical cousin.

It reminded Howard of oil and water.

"I can't allow fear to blind me to potential danger. Not anymore."

---

Lulu Flint

EXCHANGING MP

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS!

[break]

EXCHANGING: ### MP FOR ITEM[break]

CURRENT TOTAL MP: WHAT IS YOUR TOTAL MP NOW?
1555 MP - Monty Skirmish
1380 MP - Genny Skirmish
65 MP - Thomas Skirmish (Unnoted, Shiv Perm)
TAKING THE MEGA STONE AND CLAIMING IT FOR TYRANITAR (200)
SPIKY SHIELD TUTOR (150)
PARADOX IRON THORNS (500)
Total: 2150

June Sleigh had something to learn: Howard Slayte was built different. Literally.

Rocket Beasts, Rocket Admins, and Underbosses all fell victim to his whimsical charms. The latter was a form of psychological torture designed to make him lose his mind, but to the mentally stable, leaving rose petals all over his room was less torturous and more romantic. It had taken him hours to clean them all up.

Maybe he had forgotten how good he was at this, given he had been off the market since his engagement. Maybe people saw the ring and thought he was a challenge. Maybe the Aerodactyl keychain was the hottest shit in the multiverse.

Cops were pretty hot, now that he thought about it.

"Eh?" He stared at the papers as if expecting them to say 'SIKE, IDIOT! GET PRISON TIMED!' When they didn't, the admin looked up at Miyako, eye wide. "Really? Seriously?"

Then she asked him out. Coffee? Now? Howard reddened, slightly. He thought Miyako would kick kick her feet slightly, blush, and carry on. Instead, June did what she did best: throw gasoline onto an inferno. As the words left her lips, Howard flushed. The last thing Miyako saw or heard from her prospective catch was a muttered "sorry..."

The car was silent.

"Holy shit, June." He turned the ignition, his eye flicking to Miyako's silhouette as the car hummed. "I think I might kill myself."

The car began to move.

---

june sleigh Miyako Noguchi

"You care about her."

His sense of loyalty was touching. The admin's respect for the man improved substantially, even if he was someone relying on bad faith. Everyone in Dewford was, though. They followed the sheriff and his vow to do the best they could, every single day. He inspired such loyalty that even villains hiding beneath his ilk were clear of suspicion.

He would know. He had hidden alongside them. He recognized Dewford's new Gym Leader as a traitor, too. She just happened to be a far less dangerous one than him.

For now.

"But know this. I've taken her down into the Ultra Deep Sea. She's laid her heart bare for me. For Navy. Has she offered you the same level of trust? Can you really listen to how she talks about the Ultra Deep Sea and feel truly, in your heart of hearts, that she is on our side?"

Ours. Not his. At the end of the day, Rocket's quarrel with the League had roused sleeping giants, but when the chips were down, the two sides would reunite to fell the divine.

Assuming it wasn't too late.

"Though I guess you're not wrong, Rocket does consist of goons. They're dross pretending that beating the weak makes them strong." He had hung several in Petalburg for assault already, in an attempt to scour the rest of indecent behavior.

Yet, despite their sins, they were human.

"Do you think she's cut out to be a Gym Leader?"

---

Eduardo Hisakawa

Even a blade can be bent, should it block instead of parry.

Tsubame held two swords in hands calloused from wandering. Swordplay is an art form meant to reach a level of emptiness that cannot be reached by mere meditation. To wield blades is to accept an unending journey, and to swing them is to accept that she will end the journeys of others.

In a twist of fate, they might end hers.

"Damn. I underestimated their numbers." Howard muttered as his shadow fell on the battlefield. He chewed his lip until it grew sore. "Jayden was always better at this."

For a brief moment, he considered summoning giants to wipe these men away like ants in a breeze. They fought with rage and valiant honor, but to be crushed beneath a mountain of boulders or preserved in glacial ice was not a fate these people deserved. His golems labored in the city. They would not be immediately present.

Still, he silently called for Regirock.

As the Shiftry prepared to lop off Hana's head, its Razor Wind is Blocked by a Stonjourner's massive leg. The energy of the sentinel's Power Spot rushed into the swordswoman and her blades, imbuing them with power. Her wounds did not heal, but they did not sap her strength.

That, she had in abundance.

"Does my own mouth betray me? Did I order you to lose, Tsubame?" Howard unceremoniously jumped away from a stray pipe swing, before giving her a glare. "Let me rephrase, then..."

The ground rumbled.

"I ordered you to win."

---

Aoki Hana

They're both exhausted. Jayden was a sword with beaten edges, cracking from denying his purpose of being a blade in favor of becoming a shield. Sootopolis had forced him to deny his programming and defend rather than attack. For the offense admin, such a thing should have been impossible.

Yet he had done it. Their eyes met. Collapse was imminent. They were simply sustaining themselves until the meeting that would dictate Rocket's fate and policy.

"There're too many ghosts in that submarine, Jayden. Too many reminders of her. Why bother torturing myself with yesterday when I'm going to die tomorrow?" Elisabeth deserved to rot beneath the earth. He'd kill her again, if need be. Somewhere in his heart, he suspected that he'd need to.

There were too many coincidences and too many roses for something to not be amiss.

"An admin cannot kill an underboss, even if killing her was the right thing to do. Therefore, you know what must be done. If you're still Rocket's sword, you'll restore order." Howard was too tired for this conversation, yet it had to happen. "You have to kill me, Admin Cross."

He blinked. Dynergy thrummed.

"To maintain Rocket's stability, it has to be you."

---

jayden cross

"I've been busy."

It was not a lie, but it was uttered with the intention to distract and distort. Howard had been busy, as had his fellow admin. While Rocket Beasts existed for the sole purpose of slaughter and Head Scientists existed to push Rocket's knowledge, the four admins existed to ensure that everything functioned properly.

Howard, Jayden, Barnaby, and Fern were always busy. It made Howard wonder what the underbosses even did, besides die to his hand.

Yet Jayden was right. Howard was avoiding him, and he had finally been cornered. Ever since their first meeting, Jayden had excelled at that.

"You'll have to forgive me for not using your company's insurance plan." Even with their headquarters in Rustboro, Howard could never afford insurance. He offered a withered hand carved from ice and stone. Thin red lines of Dynergy formed a latticework under the skin. "What do you want, Jayden?"

Their eyes met. He wondered if this was the person Walsh had sent to kill him.

---

jayden cross